Dirty Sexy Alphas (Twenty Book Box Set) - Hannah Ford Page 0,73

a bird to catch my balance.

Landon and Matt had fallen over laughing. When Matt finally got it together, he’d said I looked like a Pterodactyl.

Landon corrected him, saying I looked like a Taryndactyl, and the name stuck. For months, they’d shriek and flap their arms when I walked into a room.

I bumped down a line and type in Hollywood, because Landon’s middle name was Alex, making his initials L. A. He went through a phase in high school where his buddies called him Hollywood, and I’d teased him relentlessly for it.

And then Landon was there, setting two frosty glasses down next to a pitcher of amber beer. He glanced up at the screen, and chuckled. “Man, I thought I was hot shit in high school.”

I laughed. “Figured I’d resurrect our nicknames for old time’s sake.”

“All we need is Fat-Matt and we’d be complete.”

“I’m not fat, I’m just bloated,” I sing-song, imitating Matt. Of course, he’d never been fat, but since he wrestled in high school, he was always conscious of his weight. When he went up a weight class—inevitable, really—we couldn’t resist a few good-natured jabs.

“Guess you’re up first, huh?”

“I suppose I am,” I said, accepting the glass of beer Landon offered me.

I picked up the teal-swirled bowling ball I’d picked out, and then sashayed my way to the end of the lane, hoping he was staring at my ass.

Knowing he was staring at my ass.

In one fluid motion, I lined up and swung, sending the ball gliding down the lane…

And straight into the gutter.

I burst out laughing, walking to the ball return and meeting Landon’s bemused eyes. “I also have not bowled since we were last here.”

“I can tell,” Landon said, mock serious.

“Turns out those Wii Bowling games I played with Matt are not as accurate as I had hoped,” I said.

“Maybe I stand a chance after all.”

“Don’t be so sure.”

I picked up my ball again and strode away, unable to keep the grin from my face.

Tonight was exactly what we needed. To get away from everything and just… be together. Remember what it was like before everything to complicated.

For one night, it was just him and me, nothing to keep us apart.

An hour later, Landon and I walked out of the bowling alley, laughing like two teens on a date. Maybe it was the beer buzz or the absurdly low bowling scores.

Maybe it was just us, together.

“I guess bowling isn’t as popular as it used to be,” Landon said, gesturing to the mostly empty lot. A dozen or so other bowlers had been inside, clustered at the opposite end of the bowling alley. Their cars dotted the spaces nearest the front doors.

“Guess not,” I said, following Landon over to his SUV. He held the door open for me, and I slid in.

He climbed in on his side, but didn’t bother putting the key in the ignition. He just dropped the key into the cup holder and then leaned over the console, brushing his lips against mine.

I shut my eyes, kissing him back. It took only his tongue slipping into my mouth to set me on fire. The kiss deepened, and his hand found its way over my shoulder, pulling me toward him. But the console was in the way, made it impossible to get closer.

So he leaned over me, yanking on a lever and making the seat drop back. And then he was climbing over me, shoving my knees apart so that he had room to kneel between my legs.

I glanced across the lot, to where a few people trickled out the front door of the bowling alley, wandering toward their cars.

“The windows are tinted,” he whispered, kissing along my neck. I was wet already. I wanted this.

But we were in public.

I watched as the others climbed into their cars, slamming their doors. Landon kissed across my collarbone. But then the doors opened again, and someone else walked out.

“They’ll see us,” I said, my self-consciousness battling the desire building like a wave.

“No they won’t,” he replied, his hands gliding down my body, until he squeezed my ass on both sides, pulling me toward the edge of the seat.

“Landon…”

“I need you,” he said. “Now.”

My pulse spiked, heat pooling in my lower belly. God, I wanted him too.

“Let me fuck you,” he whispered, shoving my dress up over my waist and exposing my underwear. He grabbed it in two hands, ripping it from one hip before I could protest. Then he slid it down the other leg, letting it drop